I’m in shock. ‘Downward’ the enhanced edition had no business being as addictive as it was. Just a typical first-person, parkour adventure title, developed by Caracal Games, this game was more than meets the eye as it thrusts you into a world turned upside down…wards.

The year is 1000 A.D., three extraterrestrial planets have entered Earth’s gravitational atmosphere, causing chaos. The planet is now deformed, causing humans to fight for survival with new races, monsters, and even each other as they move into extinction. Earth, now a post-apocalyptic haven, requires you to scour these lost civilisations and discover the secrets to what is left of humanity. The story is decently integrated into the gameplay, which can be hard since it’s all about running around.

Random NPCs litter the worlds and while it does slow the game down when you hit one, it adds that much-needed flesh to the game to keep you driving forward despite it being a tad convoluted tale, at times.

The controls are simple and very streamlined. I love a game that isn’t bulked down by excessive inputs. Initially, the right trigger will make you jump, slide, hang, and climb as you sprint around parkouring ledges. As the game opens up and you teleport to new planets and areas, more are introduced such as a higher jump, grapple, platform-making, etc. You can use your right bumper to interact with save points, restore health points, and pick up most of the collectibles littered in each gorgeously crafted open area.

There is also a handy warp option too on A that will send you back to a place you have set it to. This is particularly helpful in areas you know you may die a lot in due to miscalculated jumps. It made for some addictive gameplay as you chain together a combination of moves at a push of only a few buttons.

As you progress you will collect spiritual orbs, relics, and additional skills. Spiritual orbs can unlock skills and buffs in a skill tree activated at shrines. These increase things such as stamina, health regen, or even orb multipliers. These definitely help the journey at hand. You also pick up relics of the past that can be traded with the old man merchant for additional orbs to upgrade your skills.

The enemies come in as very generic golems and these encounters are few and far between. The Boss-like golems that you defeat for additional upgrades are even worse and are very simple to beat. Your character technically can’t fight back, being a passive parkour-er and all, so all it takes is a few timed dodges and an opening to pull them apart. It sounds gruesome but it is quite bland in practice.

As you would expect from an enhanced copy, the graphics are crisp and impressive. Dungeons and floating ruined gardens have a subtle neon glow that contrasts the darkness and the general environments are soft and quaint. The levels are full of detail from the water on the beaches to the snowfall in the mountaintop ruins. The music is orchestral and whimsical even when in a boss encounter, which delivers the mood of a fantasy dream. It compliments the pastels of the environment well and creates such a calm ambience despite the perils of falling to your death.

‘Downward’ Enhanced was a polished edition of the 2017 version. Despite the overly bloated narrative, I enjoyed that it was there and coupled with the addicting parkour gameplay I found hours would just melt away.

Written by: Stacey